MY PERSONAL OPINIONSince the BoH Forum was founded, players have wanted Venan’s attention. They have squeeed when Venan responded to a Post. They have written poems when they felt Venan was hiding *too* many secrets. Venan’s Devs are the rock stars of BoH.

Starting a Flame War is not how to get Venan’s Attention. Unlike a Hobby Forum, Venan does not have a “Flame War” sub Forum.

You can avoid starting a Flame War ( aka “Flame War Tinder” ) when writing your Post. I recommend you check your Post for three criteria.

A) Does your Post ask a question only Venan can answer?

If a fellow Forum member can answer your question, instead of Venan, that is a good Forum Post. Ex: What Haste can I get with 18 Tier 6 Haste Gems?

If your Post can *only* be answered by Venan, a Customer Service Email is going to be vastly more helpful to you and Venan. Ex: Someone disbanded (deleted) my Guild.

The main exceptions are the “Bug” and “Suggestion” Forums. Ex: Sha’lyn’s Dungeon does not drop essence. Add PvP. Remove PvP.

B) Does your Post ask a question that Venan *cannot* answer?

Venan is a small company, with legal responsibilities, and the Forums are a place of Business for them.

In the Past, some subjects have been ignored by Venan for the following reasons:

B1) Venan considers the subject feedback, and had heard the player.

There is only one know case of Venan reversing a business decision. Venan ID’s were going to be permanently locked, but player feedback convinced Venan to leave ID’s changeable by the player. Do not expect to repeat this success every week.

However, if Venan is trying to decide between two options, player feedback matters. If Venan is trying to decide how to allocate Development Cycles, player feedback matters. If Venan is trying to decide what direction to go in art for player Armor, player feedback matters.

Due to the *volume* of feedback, Venan *cannot* answer every one.

B2) Venan considers the subject confidential between a player and Venan, and will never reply to a public Post or a third party request.

For example, if you are in chat, and click the “Report” button for a chat message, this is now a confidential matter between Venan and the message sender. Unlike a court of law, there is no public record. This also applies if you take a screen capture of an inappropriate conversation and attach it to a customer support email.

Due to confidentiality, Venan *cannot* answer.

B3) Venan considers the subject vague and impossible to answer due to the subject matter, but it demands a precise answer from Venan.

For example, what exact words are inappropriate for Age 9+ Chat? Venan is a worldwide company, and there are many many ways to be inappropriate in Chat.

Due to the nature of language, Venan *cannot* answer.

C) When your subject has been brought up in the Forums, or Chat, has it always resulted in a Flame War?

Some subjects never result in a Flame War. Ex: How many HP does a player get at Level 21 with no Health Gems.

Other subjects always result in a Flame War. Ex: My favorite Sports Team did something inappropriate for Age 9+ Chat to your rival Sports Team, and got away with it.

Finally, some subjects will most often result in a Flame War. Ex: Repeatedly taunting a player, group of players, Guild, or community in a Topic. In this case, the Topic will be deleted/ locked and the players will get a warning. If you want to participate in a Flame War, find a Hobby Forum with a Flame War Section, or create your own BoH Forum independent of Venan’s Forum.

Note to other Forum Mods: Feel free to chime in with better examples of “often result in Flame Wars”.

Looking at these three criteria, the more “yes” or “maybe”, the more likely your Post will start a Flame War (aka “Flame War Tinder”).